UK Christmas Spending Up 55% on Mobile in 2014

UK shoppers are increasingly using smartphones and tablets to purchase items during the Christmas rush, according to a report by IMRG and Capgemini, quoted by eMarketer.

Online spending on mobile reached £8 billion between November 2 and December 27 last year, an increase of 55% on 2013.

eMarketer also referenced a December 2014 IBM report that showed that UK e-Commerce sales on mobile reached nearly half of total sales for Black Friday (47%) and Cyber Monday (43%).

Source: eMarketer.

Both shopping days saw mobile account for more than half of all site traffic, indicating users still tend to switch to desktop to place orders. Nonetheless, it's clear that mobile's influence is growing.

Black Friday, mostly unknown in Britain before 2013, can take much of the responsibility for impressive growth in online shopping activity in 2014. According to IMRG/Capgemini, overall e-Commerce sales between November 2 and December 27 increased by 13% year-on-year. But December's results - when Black Friday had been and gone - were up just five per cent.

Source: eMarketer.

Black Friday's growing influence is also confirmed by IBM's report, which showed Black Friday retail e-Commerce sales grow by an astonishing 91.6% between 2013 and 2014. This dwarfs Cyber Monday's growth, which stood at 22.6% - an impressive figure under any other circumstances.